No, I don’t mean D.C., I mean my home state; which tends, politically speaking, to be strange, but not as strange as Oregon to the south or British Columbia to the north. This gambit, though, is the sort of thing you might expect to see come out of Oregon:
New initiative: No children? Then no marriage
‘Absurd’ idea aims to start discussion
I may comment on this later; right now . . . I’m speechless.
Actually, their third proposed initiative isn’t all that bad:
“The measure’s backers said the two other initiatives they plan would prohibit divorce or separation when a married couple had children and would make having a child together the equivalent of marriage.”
It’ll never pass, but from a Biblical viewpoint, the idea definitely has merit.
I think their second one does as well; and taken altogether, their three proposed initiatives really pose a strong challenge to the “it’s all about my personal fulfillment” understanding of marriage which is so much of the root of the problem. Or at least, they would if they were intended to do so; part of the issue here is that the people proposing them don’t want to do that, but rather to get people to step up and defend that idea of marriage. I think there’s a great opportunity for conversation here–one which must be seized, and well–but how to do that, I don’t know.
i love the phrase “political street theater.”
It’s a great description, no question; and I think maybe an example it would do other groups well to pick up on. (It’s certainly better than some of the political tactics we’re seeing these days.)